impact of a best practices approach on work
It was a very satisfying opportunity to work on developing that holistic approach. Many times when we work on a project we're working on a small piece, we don't have the opportunity to look at it from beginning to end, to look at the larger context. Having the opportunity to work through the Nova Scotia Framework has been beneficial in bringing more - a new or larger perspective - to the other work I do.

comments on using a best practices approach
Best practices frameworks are really tools for transformation. For myself it was a wonderful opportunity to take up those tools, to look at what is possible when you have a framework that guides you through a holistic, larger approach when working on a project.

Being holistic and larger is also a draw back. Often in the way that funding happens - time, resources, etc. - we just don't have the right positioning and all the resources available to do it. Living in the reality of our day to day work, we are more likely to do piece meal work.

But in those situations, having a framework at least gives you a larger context in which to think about the issue and the steps one is working on. Just having a framework is beneficial even if we can't use it to its fullest extent. Even if we only use it for one part of the work, it still helps us go deeper and take a broader perspective on that part of the work.

life outside of work and best practices
I am soon going on a trip to Europe with my daughter who is graduating from high school, then I am moving to the west coast where my son lives. My daughter will also re-locate to the West Coast. I am looking forward to the change, to the next step in our lives. I am looking at the coming year as a sabbatical year, a time to do something different.

This profile is based on an interview with website co-editor Barbara Kahan.

definition of "best practices"
I define best practices as those strategies which have the greatest positive impact on a population.

current work focus
I spent over a decade working on tobacco control issues like cessation and smoking bylaws. It became apparent there weren't enough resources to address all aspects of tobacco control. With the help of Health Canada funding I did a literature review to find tobacco reduction strategies that work. The five top best practices indicated by the literature are: increased tobacco taxation, smoke free public places, smoke free workplaces, a ban on tobacco advertising and promotion, and counter-advertising including denormalization of tobacco industry activities.

In the last few years we have been promoting best practices in tobacco control to policy makers and the health community. These 'best practices' are also our goals for Saskatchewan. To achieve 'best practices' we are involved in advocacy work as well as educating the public and policy makers. It is also important to counter the misinformation campaigns that invariably come from the tobacco industry and "front groups" which knowingly or unknowingly carry the tobacco industry's agenda.

Currently I'm most excited about carrying the message of best practices to the health community and policy makers. I and the President of the Coalition will be speaking about 'best practices in tobacco control' at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health in Ottawa in June.

impact of best practices approach on work
My involvement with best practices has totally refocused my work. It has made it easier in many ways - I don't spend my time on ineffective strategies. When one knows where one is going one is more apt to get there. We have achieved several of the top five best practices in Saskatchewan since we began focusing on best practices - smoke free public places were put in place January 1 of this year, we have a high level of tobacco taxation, and we also have a retail display ban in place. We are waiting for the next survey report from Health Canada and are hopeful we will see a drop in smoking rates.

comments for others
It's important to always keep your goals in mind - best practices are the quickest way to get to your goals. In Saskatchewan 1,600 people lose their lives every year because of tobacco-related diseases - we can't afford not to use best practices.

Unfortunately using best practices is not always easily accepted by people - a lot of best practices requires advocacy and some people don't feel that comfortable with that. However education and pamphlets aren't going to get us to our goals.

main interests outside of work and best practices
Sleeping! And singing. And driving on the grid roads in Saskatchewan while playing Charlie Major, he has a song about "cruising the back roads."

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

definition of "best practices"
My definition of best practices is the one I used with my reflection piece - "practices demonstrating the ability to learn from experience (both your own experience and the experiences of others)." This is based on the definition of intelligence that came up in my high school psychology class, I thought it applied to best practices as well. The ability to learn from our experiences requires critical reflection and goes beyond evaluation. It is learning from what we have done, and then making the leap to modifying programs and policies and making whatever changes we need to make.

involvement with best practices
I haven't been involved too much with best practices in a direct way since I was on the [Centre for Health Promotion's assessment of evidence] committee a few years back. I was recently one of the external reviewers for a new practice framework developed by Toronto Public Health, which is going to be a step in the right direction towards best practices. I am interested in developments in the field, particularly in advancing knowledge in the areas of inclusion learning and the determinants of health.

I am primarily a consumer of best practices information. My involvement with best practices has made me become a more informed consumer - I say that as someone who acts in a decision making capacity on the Toronto Board of Health [as a citizen representative]. On the Board we try to make decisions according to the resources available, that meet the needs of people in Toronto, that reflect diversity and the needs of different groups, that impact in a positive way on the determinants of health. Politics, of course, enters into the equation sometimes.

As I continue to stay active in the field of health promotion, working on my areas of interest, the principles of best practices do guide my work. I think I do this in an unconscious way - I don't consciously think "I'm going to take a best practices approach to reviewing this piece."

comments for using a best practices approach
Best practices is a product of carefully thought out planning and ongoing evaluation, which, in turn, informs planning decisions and critical reflection. There are no short cuts to best practices.

main interests outside of work
I will be getting back into middle distance running this summer, I am hoping to get into 5 and 10 kilometre runs. I'm also into cycling, reading, and coin collecting, and am a volunteer [as mentioned above, with the Toronto Board of Health and Vice Chair of the Capacity Review Committee].

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

definition of "best practices"
When I see the term best practices I think of efficiency and simplicity of design - any system that does what it needs to do very effectively with very little waste.

nature of involvement with best practices
When I do website design I'm constantly thinking about the most efficient way to present information, to make it pleasant to look at with a good design and non-abrasive colour scheme and a clean interface. So, when I'm doing a new website I incorporate best practices into the design to make it as good as possible with no waste.

When I was designing the IDM Best Practices website I came across a design on another website that I really liked and adapted it to idmbestpractices.ca. What drew me to it was the perfectly clean content on the left, the unobtrusive title at the top, the simple clean floating menu on right - it's very simple, but still visually appealing and easy to find your way around on. I quite liked it for that, it's very neat. Were I to do it again, based on what I've learned since then, I would keep the interface - what the visitor sees - the same, but I would clean up the back end so that managing the site would be simpler.

Best practices is certainly always on my mind. Again, when I'm thinking about a new website design I'm thinking about the best way to deliver content - its impact is everything.

comments on using a best practices approach
I think any time anyone's working with a large project they should be thinking as broadly as possible about how they can improve the efficiency of what they're doing - think about the users, the designers, anyone else who might be impacted by it - the most efficient and clean way of reaching their objective.

Defining "efficiency" depends on the context - in general, I define it broadly as minimal waste - reducing input to achieve your end. I don't agree with the current business sense of efficiency where efficiency means, for example, job cutting without looking at the total system. This is a reductionist approach that usually doesn't work. When it comes to efficiency you have to look at everything involved and then it can only have good results.

life outside of work and best practices
Sepak Takraw is a large part of my life - a cross between volleyball and soccer which started in South East Asia. And of course there's my physics degree.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

involvement with best practices
At OPC I have been part of many discussions with the best practices advisory committees (English and Francophone) on how to use the IDM in health promotion. I have had the pleasure of working with two CHCs [Community Health Centres] who were part of the IDM Best Practices pilot project, and looked at how to use the IDM Framework and approach in their current work. "Best practices" in health promotion, in planning, in nutrition, cancer prevention and in public health have all been part of the work that I have done at OPC. I have emphasized the foundations of best practice - values and principles, goals, theories, evidence or data or knowledge that is available, understanding the context and environment - all come as part of practice. When someone asks for an example of an effective program so that they can apply it in their organization, I always discuss their interests, needs, goals and situation, and encourage them to put "evidence" of a previous practice or program into a mix of their own "best practice."

When working on strategies or undertaking certain programs I have used the IDM to ground the discussion. It's been very useful - often when I'm talking to people they ask an initial question such as, "Can I get an example of a program on diabetes prevention?" I ask them, "How did you get to this point, who else is involved, what kind of perspective are you bringing to it?" They start thinking about that, they realize what else they need to know besides who else has done it before, they think about their own beliefs and values that they bring to their program. You can put it in a strategic plan format but that leaves out what I think is very important in terms of a values base. It's not just "here's the objectives and plan" but what's underneath that's driving it.

life outside of work and best practices
Currently, with my graduate studies, and working, there is not much time to take up other interests (beyond eating, sleeping and enjoying home life). Every chance that I get I enjoy the sanctuary of my island cottage home with my partner and our cats. I'll cook, garden, read, visit with neighbours, and take part in numerous community events and activities such as the building of a seniors' residence (my future home I'm sure!). When I can squeeze more time and get away I love to bicycle over country roads (and the city), travel throughout southern Ontario, and anywhere else in the world, and go to concerts and learning events. I'll never stop learning, it's a joy in my life.

This profile is based in part on a contribution by Alison Stirling and in part on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

work focus
Half of my time I am coordinator of Vibrant Communities. [According to the Tamarack Institute website, Vibrant Communities is "a community-driven effort to reduce poverty in Canada by creating partnerships that make use of our most valuable assets - people, organizations, businesses and governments."] The six Vibrant Communities' trail builders - Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria, Niagara, St. John, Montreal - are midway through the implementation of their poverty reduction plans. There are 11,000 families involved and plans for another 8,000, it's impressive, communities can get scale. They moved from projects to system changes, not just one offs but reoccurring - things like policy adjustments, changes in administration of policy. Vibrant Communities is an intentional experiment with an integrated architecture for learning.

The other half of my time I focus on stuff around community collaborations dealing with complex problems like poverty, safety, renewal, research and development. I am quite interested, when I get back [from paternity leave], in working more on the operational implications of working collaboratively when there are lots of stakeholders. We tend to reach for old tools which don't work when there is technical complexity [unclear cause and effect relationships] and social complexity - lots of stakeholders with diverse interests. Competencies and approaches for complex situations are emergent at this point. It is a struggle to be adaptable as things unfold, we're not a culture to have dynamic problem solving processes. What happens is people prepare models first - for governance, planning, evaluation - and then launch things. But groups that are more responsive and adaptive seem to have a better time of it.

discussion of "best practice"
I think that the term is often used incorrectly - it assumes we have a lot of information on outcomes, but often people don't because it is hard to get that verifiable information. So what it means is "interesting" or "high profile" or "innovative," not "best" as there is no info on outcomes, because real good evaluation is damned hard to do. Also, how do you get info on what works in a standardized way? For example, in Calgary the solution to a particular transportation issue is straightforward, but conditions in Edmonton are different and Calgary's solution won't work. It's like a kaleidoscope, you turn one notch and everything is different.

I don't use the term often with emergent or complex work: it's difficult to talk about "best practice" and "innovation" in the same sentence because they are two different ways of going about change. Best practice informs work with what's happened in other places. With innovation you have a set of circumstances that keeps moving and you make your best guess about what will work. Innovation is risk oriented and experimental; with best practice you build on what's gone before.

I like "promising" or "pretty good" practice where you use practice from other places as a lesson but you're not tied to it. I was once at a conference in Britain, in Leeds, with the Rockefeller Foundation. It was all about why practitioners did not use evidence based decision making. The conclusion was similar to mine - because information is only part of what goes into the day to day reality of making change.

applying best practice to work
I try and find out what's happening with a situation - the partners etc. - and understand that processes are dynamic and unfolding, they're complex. This means being patient to find a legitimate entry point and once I find it get ready to adapt. Framing the issue up front is important - I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to understand the situation without going overboard. I also rely heavily on relationships - I think relationships are about half of it. If I don't feel right, if there isn't the chemistry, I won't go in. There has to be trust, it's like white water rafting, you need to feel good about the other people in the boat. Otherwise you end up in a situation where the people you're working with start out by saying they want hamburger, but later change their mind without telling you that they now want pizza, so when you give them hamburger they say "what a shitty pizza."

Someone, I forget who, once said that change is about "relentless incrementalism, you have to keep pounding and pounding." I also keep in mind the saying from the Torah, "it's not for us to finish the task but to start it." Then there is Bill Shore with his "cathedral within" metaphor - in medieval times people working on cathedrals treated it as craft work, something you do as well as possible, and trust that you are building something bigger without feeling the pressure or hope of seeing it finished.

main interests outside of work
I'm into gardening. I'm a little into environmental design for homes, I'm reading about that. Cooking - I like Indian and Caribbean and Thai, spicy food. I'm trying to be in the moment with my kids.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

work affiliation and focus
I am part of the Health Promotion Resource Centre team of Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse (OPC). OPC is a non-profit voluntary organization committed to a comprehensive approach to prevention and health promotion. I have worked at OPC for many years and through its many changes; the essence of our programs and services is to facilitate, support and amplify an agenda that raises and sustains health promotion, social equity and access. I, along with my colleagues at OPC, have the privilege of working with people such as community activists, public and community health practitioners, planners, researchers, volunteers. We provide a range of learning opportunities, consultations and networking along with strong information and knowledge exchange for people who are trying to integrate health promotion perspectives into their work, with emphasis upon the social and economic determinants of health.

Currently I and others on the team are most focused on the areas of inclusion, dialogue and mental health promotion as these areas help us broaden our understanding of the structures that support or detract from health. This year we convened six Count Me In! community forums in Ontario: two in French and four in English (www.count-me-in.ca). These events helped me understand the complexity of concepts about inclusion. In particular, how do we create a "culture" of inclusion, health and well-being? How do personal, professional, organizational and community efforts at inclusion increase human capacity and social capital? [For more discussion about inclusion, see Peggy Schultz's reflection on the website this fall.]

definition of "best practices"
The definition I know best is the IDM's, where we pay attention to revisiting and aligning our approach, strategies and activities with health promotion values. The core vision and values don't really change over time; the IDM framework provides an anchor to keep us on our path AND to help us see when and where to try new or different paths. An underlying premise of IDM is inclusion although it was never stated explicitly.

While understanding the IDM approach I continue to grapple with the term "best practice." The world we work in often defines "best" as excellent - in that sense of surpassing others - but for me at the end of the day it's knowing we've done our best. As well, we need to be assured that we are considering best practices at all levels - not only programme and community intervention but at policy levels where determinants of health need to be addressed.

Sometimes the success of the past can blind us to the needs of the future - so I hope that we use best practices approaches to pay attention to the changing context in which we work and to help us innovate. Some frames of reference may not serve us well unless they give us space to deal with the unknowns. Sometimes there is an underlying expectation that "best practice" is about having all the answers and pinning everything down. Ideally a framework such as IDM keeps us focussed on sense of purpose so that we can face the unknowns together (in our programmes, organizations and/or communities).

involvement with best practices
I was at the international conference that led to the start of the Best Practices Work Group through the Centre of Health Promotion at the University of Toronto. As OPC's representative on the original work group I was part of the early development of the IDM best practices approach. I continue to keep in touch with [website editor Barbara Kahan] on a monthly basis to talk about best practices issues in the context of current work and challenges. The IDM does influence me - some of that does feel like it's embedded in me, although some of my colleagues would say I never get to the point of action…for me the process and reflection are the action.

Currently, at OPC our francophone consultants have activated the IDM framework in some very interesting ways [for example, see the reflection by Hélène Roussel]. This grew out of the francophone Best Practices workgroup which OPC spearheaded alongside the earlier workgroup through the Centre for Health Promotion.

main interests outside of work and best practices
Reading, drawing, walking, taking photos of flowers and enjoying time with friends.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

I continue to be excited about the Effective Public Health Practice Project, which does systematic reviews of the effectiveness of public health interventions. The other project that I am truly passionate about - Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) - is a community development project in a disadvantaged area of Hamilton, where people come together and decide what they want and need, it's very exciting. There is an advisory committee - staff and community residents and other members - which decides actions. I'm co-chair. The staff that work there are wonderful. CATCH is about health in the broad sense, about the social determinants of health. It includes things like a parent-child drop-in centre and after-school programs. CATCH is also going to start a project for teens living in an apartment building full of drug dealers and gangs and shootings. It will be an evening program with mentors and tutors for the kids who are failing in school. Currently I am trying to get computers for this evening program. CATCH is something quite different than the academic projects I usually work on, it keeps me grounded.

I really believe that this kind of community development works, but it isn't popular because professionals find it hard to believe that people know what they need. We have to get beyond thinking we're such experts that we can tell people what to do. Very often people's identified needs are different from the needs identified by the professionals. For example, community members say they need jobs and nurses worry about whether the kids had their immunizations - although both are necessary, there is a big disconnect.

defining best practices
The problem about this whole area of best practices, definitionally and otherwise, is that there are a whole variety of different people involved with different backgrounds and different values and approaches coming at it from different perspectives. Sometimes to get on with things people duck the question of definition because we could probably spend the rest of our lives discussing it. In one group we came to some kind of definition but it was a huge compromise - but one that reflects the place and time that we're at.

I think my definition is that best practices fit with a community's values and with the evidence. I put a lot of emphasis on evidence whereas other people would emphasize other parts. I'm keen that we have a strong evidence base before we go on - others prefer to emphasize context. But both need to happen. Of course another lengthy discussion we could engage in for a couple of years is "what is evidence."

evidence challenges
I know how to do systematic reviews and I once thought putting them into a user friendly form would help policy makers use them. But this doesn't always happen. We need to incorporate those other factors that enter into policy making and practice, I'm not sure how to do that - we need to look more into qualitative evidence and maybe not such rigid methodology. Maybe we need to do a literature review about this. I'm not any less committed to rigorous research but we need to include more, we need to combine quantitative and qualitative, we somehow need to sort out a method of reviewing qualitative evidence. We need to figure out how to incorporate case studies - write ups from the community - into the evidence.

main interests outside of work and best practices
My family. And I like to ski down hill - I like the adrenaline rush. Also I am interested in social justice issues, I do a fair amount of advocating here and there. But trying to campaign to get something to happen takes hours of time and you end up talking to people you wouldn't otherwise. So things like that, I take them on one at a time - sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

At Association des communautés francophone de l'Ontario - Toronto (ACFO-TO) we have used the MDI from the beginning. [Click here to see Hélène Roussel's reflection on the IDM/MDI and ACFO-TO]. It has helped us to be strategic, in the sense of being reflective. This reflective process is really part of the model. We don't use that much of the whole bottom part - we've adapted it by using a SWOT [strengths weaknesses opportunities threats] analysis. It is less complicated to understand and serves the same purpose. The key is where are we at, where do we want to go ideally. This is really fun when you start asking these questions. We are also planning to use the MDI for our next three years' strategic planning session at the end of March 2007.

definition of best practices
We need some kind of demonstration that there's a recipe here - if I put this ingredient and this and this in, it will create a cake and not a chicken. There has to be some evidence that things are linked together in a coherent way and that it works at the end. Also, it's constantly about values - first and foremost about foundations, about the first left quadrant of the MDI model. For example, there are all different kinds of cars. The best practices to build a car if we don't care what it's like as long as it's a car that runs, that's one thing - but if we want an environmentally friendly car that's another ball game. If you don't address that then you're travelling without a map - it may be fun and you may learn things but I'm not sure you'll accomplish what you want to accomplish at the end.

main interests outside of work
I love animals, they bring us into a different space. My beagle - Mocha - who is old and has quite a few health issues is a best practices also, I suppose. My pet has been diabetic for nine years, most diabetic animals don't last more than three years after the diagnosis. I'm a bit zealous with my doggie, I make him homemade food with lots of healthy ingredients - vegetables, algae, grains, legumes, meat and of course lots of love and hugs. Hey, I'm obviously doing something right here. He is old but still very happy and full of life.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

A big part of my role is to engage the right internal and external stakeholders at the right time and to foster and build the network of stakeholders in the area of best practices pertaining to chronic disease in order to to learn what others have done in the area of chronic disease prevention and build upon it. This part of my job has been the most rewarding for me - I can't believe how much commitment and support we have from our partners.

I am very excited about this phase, phase 2, of the Canadian Best Practices Initiative. In this next phase we will be expanding evidence to new thematic areas, such as obesity prevention, social determinants of health, and mental illness prevention, which will give me the opportunity to work closely with other Centres and Divisions across PHAC such as the Centre for Health Promotion and Strategic Initiatives and Innovations Directorate, and other non-governmental organizations. We are also going to expand the Portal to include a broader range of practices with different levels of evidence and outcomes and knowledge exchange tools/aids to help practitioners make planning decisions in their communities.

Although practitioners and researchers strive to ensure programs and practice are informed by evidence of effectiveness, the reality is that for many interventions evidence is not available, is inconclusive, or is of questionable relevance. Programming decisions must often be made in the face of uncertainty. Interest in identifying "promising practices" to help provide additional information to inform decisions emerged in this context. Since the spring of 2007 we have been working with partners to determine how to incorporate promising practices into the Portal. Being involved in such innovative and cutting-edge program development is what makes me excited to come to work every day!

definition of "best practices"

"Best Practices are those practices that have produced outstanding results in another situation and that could be adapted for our situation. Like all knowledge, it is contextual. A best practice is what is best for you."
- Carla O'Dell, Jack Grayson Jr., Nilly Essaides in If Only We Knew What We Know

A best practice is a process that has been shown through research and practical experience to lead to the desired result. A commitment to using best practices represents a commitment to using all available knowledge to increase the likelihood of success. In the public health/chronic disease prevention context this means population and community based interventions aimed at health promotion and chronic disease prevention. Best practices span a variety of approaches, from policy to programs to media outreach, and cover a variety of settings and populations - and result in evidence of effectiveness.

involvement with best practices

I've been working on the project since 2002 when the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in collaboration with a broad range of experts in health promotion practice, policy and research began to develop a framework for the Canadian Best Practices Initiative. At that time the goal was to develop a systematic evidence-based approach to evaluating information sources, and to sort through the available information to see whether it meets a set of stringent criteria. Information sources that passed the test would be considered best practices and we would be able to offer to them to researchers, policy makers and practitioners with confidence. Our first product was a Gap Analysis that looked at risk factors, diseases and settings related to chronic disease prevention. The result of this preliminary work demonstrated the need for trustworthy and reliable information that could be accessible across the country. We determined that a web portal would be the best way to disseminate information to the widest audience - that was my role, to develop the Portal. It was launched November 2006 at the CDPAC [Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance of Canada] conference.

Everything we do involves consultation and review by experts. We have a Content Review Committee, a peer review committee to review Portal content - nothing goes on it without being reviewed stringently. Every thing we link out to is based on evidence - it is trustworthy and reliable because so many people, the experts in Canada, have endorsed it.

interests outside of work and best practices

I have an 8 year old daughter who takes up most of my time. She has a real passion for drama and the arts so we often go to the NAC [National Arts Centre] and live theatre and visit the galleries and other local cultural activities. I hope to spend some time in the next year on a pet project I've been working on for a few years - I'm writing a book for my daughter. It's about best practices in life, tips I've collected over the years about how to survive personally and professionally in our crazy world. I hope to have it done by the time she needs my advice. One tip is not to stop after a Bachelor degree - keep going; don't get enticed by a biweekly paycheck! Also, I love shopping. I'm going with my daughter to Rome for March break, what better place to see fashion live than Italy?

I began formal training in early childhood education at the age of 17. Like a lot of child care workers, I saw kindergarten teachers doing the same work I was doing, but getting a whole lot more recognition (and pay) than me. I decided to leave the world of child care and became a "real" teacher, enrolling in university. All my summer and part-time jobs, though, were in child care because that's what I knew. One of these jobs was doing research for the York University Graduate Student Union. They wanted to set up a drop-in program for York student parents. I did my research at the Childcare Resource and Research Unit at the University of Toronto. That's where I met Martha Friendly. Martha is - as a reporter once called her - the Sage of Daycare. I cut my political teeth working with Martha, learning about the wider social and public policy implication s of child care. Child care is health promotion, it's early learning, it's family support, it's community development and economic development. I extend that lens - social/public policy - to a lot of other children's issues. I owe a lot to Martha and a great many other women in the Canadian child care movement. After some years working in government child care policy, I returned to school and obtained a Master's degree in Immigration and Settlement Studies. Now, I combine my interest in immigration with my background in early childhood education.

current activities

I spend about 20 hours a month on the immigrantchildren.ca blog. I post something almost every day. During the election I posted every day - immigration was always in the news, And children's issues are always in the news. It was exciting to link the two for my blogership. I'm new to blogging, but I love it. It's very exciting, the blog just celebrated its first anniversary.

I'm on the Academic Council for Mothercraft, a multi-service non-profit organization in Toronto which serves children and families. It has licensed child care centres, operates an Ontario Early Learning Centre, runs the innovative and celebrated 'Breaking the Cycle; program for women with addiction issues who are also parenting. Mothercraft just celebrated its 75th anniversary.

Mothercraft's Early Childhood Education program is unique in terms of its strong focus on anti-bias and anti-racism. Graduates are well grounded in anti-racist theory and practice. I have taught there - now I provide strategic and policy advice to the director of academic programs through my role on the Council.

I have just joined the board of an early years centre. This is very exciting for me - when I worked for the provincial government I was involved in some of the early initiatives for these centres so I know how the program was developed from the provincial government perspective. Seeing how it has rolled out in the community after all years will be interesting.

best practices and blogging

To be a blogger, I think you have to have the curiosity for information and the generosity to share. I blog all on my own time, using my own funds.

main interests outside of work and best practices

I just participated in my first art show. Very thrilling. A number of people in my neighbourhood put on an art walk, opening up their homes and studios to the public. I make papier maché bowls. I did sell a few pieces - but the thrilling part was showing my work to strangers. The bowls are all different - I make collage bowls with magazines and newspapers, sometimes I use tissue paper and other times Japanese paper. Some bowls I paint. They're a lot of fun to make.

One of Z. Sonia Worotynec's bowls.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

Welcome to the IDM Best Practices Website Magical Mystery Tour! Why Magical? Because of all the special people whose profiles and reflections are on the website - people who possess the magical qualities of passion, creativity and reflectiveness in such quantities that they cause amazing things to happen - invaluable programs, frameworks, networks... The resources listed on the website are also pretty magical, in that they have the ability to help us change things for the better. Why Mystery? Because of all the mysterious places these magical people and resources take us to - wonderful ideas and insights that cause us to reflect on things and wonder about things that may never have occurred to us otherwise.

A brief overview of five years of IDM Best Practices Website monthly features follows. [See also archives of reflections, jottings and resources.]

with best wishes,
Barbara

The website profiles a wide variety of people. Although most are Canadian, a number are from other countries - Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States. While most are from what is traditionally considered the health sector - public health, health promotion, population health, chronic disease prevention - some work in areas directly related to the social determinants of health such as income, housing, education, early childhood development, social supports. Represented in the website's profiles are: policy makers, managers, program designers and implementers, researchers, consultants; people working in government and people working in community based organizations; people who use the IDM and people who follow other best practices approaches.

The people profiled provide a range of definitions of the term best practices. Evidence was the element most often mentioned as central to best practices. Other elements mentioned include context, values, continuous improvement, theory, capacity building, outcomes or results. One person noted, "I would define best practices as policies, programs, services, activities and actions that are equitable, inclusive, responsive and effective." A few people specifically mentioned that they use the IDM definition. Several people profiled commented that there are issues with the term best practices - for example, because it is unachievable, anti-innovation, or meaningless as it is used so many different ways.

Reading over the profiles I was intrigued by the similarities, and differences, in people's lives outside of work and best practices. Commonly mentioned were: family and friends; outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling, skiing, swimming, gardening; travelling; cooking; reading; music. Mentioned much less frequently were yoga, coaching improv, writing poetry, doing needlework, quilting, doing construction, dancing the tango, doing photography, doing crossword puzzles, playing Takra, making papier maché bowls.

Below are examples of quotes from people who have been profiled on the website over the last five years. Clicking on the quote will take you to the full profile.

Having a student question why I am doing things in a certain way is one of the best ways I know to ensure that I am implementing practices that are ethical, grounded in theory and based on the strongest evidence that I can find.

Health promotion has a serious problem - it is not growing intellectually. It is fed by health education, public health, social psychology and now a little political science, but there is nothing from art, literature, philosophy, educational science, anthropology and so forth. We need desperately to tap into other fields and the innovations that are there...

[Calvin Helin, Orca Spirit Publishing] looks at intergenerational powerlessness, despair, hopelessness and dependency among Aboriginal people - and how to move out of it.

practising best practices on a daily basis

I try to walk my talk to the best of my ability. I have a strong analysis about current and historical conditions - about what my personal responsibilities are in relation to that. How walking my talk shows up in the Aboriginal Community and within my working conditions - I work to join forces for the higher good of all by building unity collectively and trying to deconstruct the lateral violence that is encouraged as a result of colonization. I work hard to build strong healthy working relationships. I do my best to honour the history of people, to support them from a resiliency and strengths based place, while holding them accountable and able.

In the non-Aboriginal community, for example with funding bodies, I do my best to deconstruct the "isms" and challenge the status quo. I talk about systemic racism, I speak to history and current issues and to the experiences that Indigenous People share with me, and I invite solid working relationships with allies in whatever systems there are. This is my approach from a holistic perspective for best practices.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

Charles Ridley is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

work focus

As a professor I have triad responsibilities of teaching, research and service. I spend the majority of my time with teaching and research. The courses I teach are theories of counselling and psychotherapy, professional issues and ethics, multicultural counselling, and psychological consultation to organizations. Occasionally I teach the practicum.

My research and scholarship are in several areas which converge. I've done quite a bit of work in what is broadly construed as multicultural counselling and mental health delivery service to underrepresented populations. I also do work on psychological change processes and professional competence. All of this is relevant to health disparities, which my wife and I work on together.

What I'm really concerned about are the psychological underpinnings of health behaviour, of health behaviour change - and how service providers incorporate these underpinnings into practice.

I have a major monograph, a series of papers with my former students, on the concept of competence, which is in press and expected out in spring. It's specifically in the area of counselling psychology but is generalizable to any area. The competence movement has concentrated on competencies. I contend that you can have competencies but still be incompetent.

Another project I've been working on is developing a protocol for multicultural assessment validity. Finally, I authored a book called Overcoming unintentional racism in counselling and therapy: A practitioners' guide to intentional intervention.

main interests outside of work and best practices

My main interests are the church - I love God's word, the Bible, I love good preaching and teaching. I love travelling and I love basketball.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

I'm very excited about my new position as a KidsFirst home visitor. I'm really looking forward to working directly with families. Before I worked on programs or projects that eventually benefitted people but where I was a couple of steps removed from the front line. Also, a new piece for me with this job is the early learning component. I'm loving all the training.

The KidsFirst program started in 2002. It's a voluntary program, designed to help vulnerable families with young children (aged 0-5) in Saskatchewan. I help link families with existing community supports and programs, advocate for them with other agencies, and take parents through a curriculum which promotes healthy child development. The program also has a mental health team and dedicated spots at area daycares and preschools for KidsFirst families.

I've been fairly deliberate about picking places to work that are in line with the approach I like to take. The KidsFirst program is researched, evidence-based, well-evaluated; also I like their policies and guidelines for working with families, which see the home visitors as facilitators. It's focused on the individual family rather than treating everyone the same.

main interests outside of work and best practices

Reading. Listening to podcasts, a good way to hear interesting things for free. Since I've just moved back here - exploring Regina by biking and walking around.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.

The organisation has developed its own energy. For some reason, most of our members outside Canada come from East Africa, and we have local centres in Uganda and Kenya. Our Board has members in Toronto, Croatia, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda.

This profile is based on an interview with website editor Barbara Kahan.